When it comes to tech and kids, the headlines are not great. There appears to be no real protection from hackers and cyberthieves. They are not just a danger to your kids in some generic way. They are targeting your kids because they are easy marks. It is also not only a matter of sexual predation. Your kids are a fount of information about your family. And kids notoriously lack any form of discernment when it comes to what one should or shouldn’t reveal. Your kids are an uncapped firehose of information. And there is only a limited number of things you can do about it once they have a computing device and an internet connection.

As scary as that is, technology can also be the key that unlocks your child’s potential. The worst case scenario is not the only scenario. Your kids are so much more than the worst possibility. And they should have access to the tools that make them the best versions of themselves they can be. The tech that can bring them to their knees is the same tech that can raise them to the stars. It is just a matter of applying that technology in the most beneficial way. Here are some tips for how to do just that:

Teach Them to Program

It is hard to imagine any meaningful job of the future that doesn’t involve the use of technology. The screens from which you want to protect your children are the same screens that will one day pay their rent. It is counterproductive to make your children afraid or suspicious of technology. If you don’t want the technology to control them, teach them how to control the technology.

Don’t just teach them; teach yourself. The same coding games that teach your children how to program also work as coding games for adults. Many of your fears will go away once you understand how it works. When you have a healthier relationship with technology, you will be able to more capably guide your children into a healthier tech relationship.

The thing to remember is that as bad as the threats are, the tech is not the problem. Bad people doing bad things are the problem, as it has always been. Help your kids learn how it all works so that they can one day be a part of the solution.

Night Time Tech

The best parenting advice calls for children’s bedtime routine to be tech-free. But taken too far, this approach can throw the baby out with the bathwater. What you want to limit is screen time, not technology. That screen time also includes television and ereaders. If your child is staying up late reading books, that is probably a win rather than a loss.

Instead of making tech the night time enemy that robs your child of sleep, use the tech as an ally to help your child sleep better. Adjust the settings so that the screen takes on a warmer cast as it gets later in the day. On Apple devices, that feature is called Night Shift. Some people swear by it. Android has similar options. Set the smart speaker to play soothing sounds like crickets or waves. That is a known sleep aid for many. Use a sleep tracker to gage the quality of their sleep. Finally, you can set the devices to start the wakeup process in a gentle and natural way. Rather than you having to make several trips to their room to get them out of bed, technology can help them wake up more naturally and more refreshed.

Use Tech to Keep Them Safe

Rather than taking away the ability for children to text in school, administrators are implementing new ways to help kids stay safe via text messaging. By giving kids smartwatches with tracking capabilities, parents can know where their kids are at all times. A watch that can double as a phone is better than a phone because it is worn all day and not subject to getting lost. It also doesn’t have the capability to play games and post other distractions.

There are definitely a lot of ways for technology to go wrong. But there are also a lot of ways for it to go right. Give your kids the best opportunity by teaching them to code, letting tech help them sleep better, and using tech to keep them safe.